Black Range Estate

Rogan Lumsden and Jessica Ng were based in Hong Kong, he as a pilot for Dragonair, she inflight manager for Cathay Pacific, but each was thinking of life after airlines. In 2000 they purchased the property where they now live, and planted the first vines (7ha of shiraz and 2.4ha of merlot), following up with 4.5ha of pinot noir and 10.1ha of pinot gris in '03. The first vintage of Merlot and Shiraz was made that year. Plan A was to sell the grapes, with what they term ‘wild ideas of adding accommodation and a restaurant following our retirement years later'. The vagaries of the industry made them graft 4.5ha of merlot to pinot noir in '14, even though in '13 (following inspiration from running the Medoc Marathon three times after learning it came complete with wine tasting tables as it wound its way through the vineyards) they had asked Paul Evans to make a merlot - the first time they had taken the final step of having wine made for them. -JAMES HALLIDAY